Lady Gaga attacks the Pope over gay marriage views

Lady Gaga has hit out at the Pope by insisting that his views on gay marriage do "not matter to the world".

In the past, the 'Born This Way' singer has angered certain sections of the religious community – most notably with the release of her controversial 'Judas' video last year, for which she dressed up as Biblical character Mary Magdalene – and, in an interview with Europe 1, she claimed the Pope Benedict's opinions on same-sex relationships were irrelevant.

Last week, the Catholic figurehead seemingly denounced the prospect of gay marriage in an address to the French Bishops in which he stated: "Marriage and the family are institutions that must be promoted and defended from every possible misinterpretation of their true nature, since whatever is injurious to them is injurious to society itself."

Responding to his comments, Gaga said: "I think that gay marriage is going to happen. It must. We are not actually equal humanity if we are not allowed to freely love one another."

She added:

What the Pope thinks of gay marriage does not matter to the world. It matters to the people who like the Pope and follow the Pope. It is not a reflection of all religious people.

Gaga has hit the headlines regularly this week due to ongoing reports focusing on her weight. Yesterday (September 24), she hit back at the criticism and rumours that she had been asked to lose weight by her record label by tweeting a picture of Marilyn Monroe with the caption: "To all the girls that think you're ugly because you're not a size 0, you're the beautiful one. It's society who's ugly."

In April of this year, Gaga came under fire from eating disorder groups after a joke she made relating to her diet fell flat. After the singer claimed on Twitter that "real pop stars don't eat”" she was criticized by both fans and the National Eating Disorder Association.

In February, meanwhile, she revealed that she had suffered with eating disorders in the past and had overcome bulimia to save her singing voice. Talking about her previous body image problems, she said: "I used to throw up all the time in high school, so I'm not that confident. And maybe it's easier for me to talk about it now because I don't do it any more. I wanted to be a skinny little ballerina but I was a voluptuous little Italian girl whose dad had meatballs on the table every night."